Food Labels: How to Decode the 11 Trickiest Terms

Supermarket packaging often contains common English words that are oddly confusing, like natural or healthy. Here’s what you need to know.

Imitation

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A food that simulates another food but isn’t made of the same stuff is an imitation, right? Not quite. It should be labeled imitation only if it has a lower amount of protein or some other essential nutrient than the food it’s copying.

Free

Linzie Hunter for Reader's Digest

Packages bearing the words fat-, sugar-, or sodium-free may still contain trace amounts of those substances. The FDA evaluates these terms according to a typical portion size known as an RACC (reference amounts customarily consumed per eating occasion). An RACC of eggnog, for example, is a half cup, and for croutons, it’s 7 g. To be labeled
free of calories, a food should have fewer than 5 calories per RACC; to
qualify as fat- or sugar-free, less than 0.5 g per RACC; and to be labeled sodium-free, fewer than 5 mg per RACC.

Low

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This is also evaluated based on set portion sizes. For total fat, it’s fewer than 3 g per RACC. For calories, it’s fewer than 40, unless it’s a main meal; then it’s 120 or fewer per 100 g.

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Reduced/less

Linzie Hunter for Reader's Digest

Don’t be fooled: Just because a product claims to have reduced fat or to
contain less sugar doesn’t mean it’s low in the stuff you should avoid
in excess. Such terms just mean the amount is lower than usual; the food
might not meet the standard for low at all. These phrases indicate a relational claim compared with a reference food. The reduced substance
(for example, total fat, sugar, etc.) should be at least 25 percent
less per RACC than the amount in an appropriate reference food.

Light/lite

Linzie Hunter for Reader's Digest

Reference foods apply to these terms too. If more than half of a light product’s calories are from fat, the fat
should be reduced by at least half per RACC. If fewer than half its
calories come from fat, the food can be called light if the calories per
RACC are reduced by one third. A lightly salted food should have 50
percent less sodium than a reference food. Sometimes foods that meet
low requirements can also be labeled as light.

High

Linzie Hunter for Reader's Digest

Labels
not only brag about a food’s low levels of bad stuff but also boast
about a food’s high levels of good stuff. High (or “rich in”) means that
the food has 20 percent or more of the RDV (recommended daily value) for that nutrient per reference serving.

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Good source

Linzie Hunter for Reader's Digest

A food with this label should have 10 to 19 percent of the RDV of a particular nutrient (which makes good source a little lower than high).

More

Linzie Hunter for Reader's Digest

One step down in nutritional value from good source is more, fortified, enriched,
added, extra, or plus. A food with 10 percent of the RDV of a nutrient
can use one of these terms, but it applies only to vitamins, minerals,
protein, fiber, and potassium.

Lean

Linzie Hunter for Reader's Digest

This term refers to seafood or game-meat products with less than 10g total fat, 4.5 grams saturated fat, and 95 mg cholesterol per RACC.

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Healthy

Linzie Hunter for Reader's Digest

Foods bearing this label meet the low standard for fat and saturated fat, have 480 mg or less of sodium, and are low in cholesterol. They should also have at least 10 percent of the RDV for such beneficial nutrients as vitamins A and C, iron, calcium, protein, and fiber.

Natural

Linzie Hunter for Reader's Digest

This is the most controversial word on food labels. The FDA solicited suggestions and considered comments about how to define natural for years but could not reach a consensus. The term still has no official definition.